A major inquiry into the lives of young people in Knowsley has led a panel of national experts to devise a new blueprint for broadening the aspirations and horizons of young people in deprived areas. The report into the area where many young people come from hard pressed families, will be launched on Friday 9 July. Unlocking the potential of young people in Knowsley will be of national relevance in deprived communities across Britain, as policy makers continue the battle to broaden horizons, build resilience and unleash enterprise.

The Knowsley Young People’s Commission was led by national charity 4Children on behalf of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council. Launched in June 2009, the 12 month inquiry consulted young people on growing up in Knowsley and the challenges and opportunities they face. The Commission was chaired by Phil Redmond, television producer, screen writer and Chair of the National Museums Liverpool, and was overseen by a panel of expert commissioners including national commentators and broadcasters; academics and sector professionals.

The report sets out a series of proposals to help young people overcome some of the worst disadvantage in the country. Once an area of booming economy, people in Knowsley have suffered over recent decades as a result of closing industries which has left a landscape of unemployment, disappointment and pessimism. Whilst progress has been made over recent years to reduce unemployment, teenage pregnancy and improve GCSE performance, the legacy continues to be reflected in an intergenerational pattern of low expectation and GCSE attainment and relatively high levels of crime.

Despite this, the Commission has found that young people are positive about their futures but need help from their families, communities, teachers and other professionals to succeed. The Knowsley Young People’s Commission has set out to help make this happen; putting forward far reaching recommendations in its new report Unlocking the potential of young people in Knowsley. These include:

1. Building aspiration: A new promise to all young people in Knowsley to raise young people’s aspirations through schools and youth clubs with mentors and young people’s champions drawn from the local community.
2. Broaden horizons: An offer to young people of a range of activities designed to them understand their learning and work options post 16 and open opportunities for their futures. These should include trying new experiences, sports, arts and leisure activities to help foster a sense of citizenship.
3. Inspire self-empowerment: A step change in supporting young people to become agents of their own destiny by putting them at the heart of local decision-making and budget allocation regarding the planning and delivery of services and activities.
4. Positive parenting: Helping parents to become positive influences in supporting young people in their education and life choices. This should be done by improving levels of education and access to training opportunities for parents.
5. Harness entrepreneurial skills: The local authority and local strategic partnership should establish a bold youth enterprise strategy, bringing together schools; enterprise organisations; local businesses and young people to create a comprehensive programme of support for children of primary school age onwards.
6. A new focus on measuring success: Develop a new range of non academic indicators to unveil a story that current statistics don’t tell. The new indicators should reflect achievement in social skills, music, arts, entrepreneurship and community involvement and should consider young people’s improvement year on year.

Phil Redmond, Television producer, screen writer and Chair of the National Museums Liverpool: “At the age of 12, educational attainment of young people in Knowsley sits alongside or above the national average. By 18 it is below, meaning that both individual ability and potential community social capital is being lost. It also means that the way we, as a wider society, measure ‘success’, through rigid national educational benchmarks may be throwing up false echoes in places like Knowsley. It is those false echoes we need to address.”

Damian Allen, Executive Director of Knowsley’s Children & Family Services, said: “We welcome the work of the Commission and the report’s findings as Knowsley is committed to putting the needs of children and young people at the heart of local policies. Knowsley is the first area in the country to carry out such a major, independent investigation into the lives of young people, listening to their voices and understanding the lives they live. We will take these findings forward and work on the recommendations in preparation for a ‘Next Steps’ Conference in the Autumn.”

Anne Longfield OBE, Chief Executive of 4Children said: “The message from young people in Knowsley was clear. They have high hopes, aspirations and dreams for their future but they need help in getting there. We need to rethink our assumptions about young people living in areas of deprivation and start helping them to make their voices heard. I hope that this Report will signal a new starting point whereby we can help young people in Knowsley and beyond to take control of their future and get the recognition they deserve for their talents.”

The report was launched on 9 July 2010 at The Youthy Youth Club in Huyton.

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Editor’s Notes

For further information, to arrange an interview please contact Julie Evans on 020 7522 6928 / 0791 787 0641 Julie.Evans@4Children.org.uk.

Knowsley Commission
Members of the Knowsley Commission include:

• Prof Phil Redmond CBE, Chair of the Commission, Television producer, screen writer and Chair of the National Museums Liverpool
• Professor Alan Dyson, Professor for Education, Centre for Equity in Education, University of Manchester
• Yvonne Roberts, Journalist, Author and Broadcaster
• Jeremy Vine, Assistant Editor, The Times

4Children
4Children is the national charity all about children and families. 4Children develops, influences and shapes national policy on all aspects of children, young people and families lives and works with a wide range of partners to deliver real support for children and families in their community.
4Children has spearheaded a joined up, integrated approach to children’s services which puts the needs of the most vulnerable at the centre. It is the one of the largest not for profit Children’s Centre providers in the country and also runs and supports out of school programmes and the new next generation ‘myplace’ youth hubs
The organisation has recently launched the high profile Family Commission chaired by Esther Rantzen. This eighteen month enquiry into families in the UK today will include one of the largest consultations with families ever undertaken and will report with far reaching recommendations for our family policy in autumn 2010.

Growing up in Knowsley: Figures from the Report

There can be little doubt that growing up in Knowsley presents some significant challenges for many young people. The statistics show that the vast majority of young people in Knowsley live in hard pressed families:

• 64.5% of 10–16 year olds educated in Knowsley in 2008-09 are classified as coming from ‘hard pressed’ families according to ACORN social classification data, compared with 23% nationally
• 20.4% are classified as coming from ‘comfortably off’ families, compared with 27% nationally
• 8.2% are classified as coming from ‘moderate means’ families, compared with 15% nationally
• 6.7% are classified as coming from ‘wealthy achievers’ families, compared with 25% nationally

When asked to rate how they feel on a series of attitude statements about themselves, more than seven out of ten consistently agreed with positive ways of feeling and doing:

• 70% of young people said that they feel self-confident
• 70% said that they are people who get things done
• 72% said that they like to try new ways of doing things
• 74% said that they adapt quickly to new ways of doing things
• 70% said that it is important to do well at school

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